2013 Halloween Greeting Card

1.  Start with the Free Mini Halloween Puzzle from our Blog Post.  The puzzle size is 4½ x 4½ so I made the card 6½ x 5 ( a 10 x 6½ piece of cardstock folded in half).  Although I custom make my envelopes this card will fit in a A7 envelope.   

2.  I used two sheets of specialty paper that I never thought I would use for anything.  They seemed to work great for a Halloween themed card.  I glued the dotted paper to the front of the cardstock and trimmed off the excess.  I used the circle/flower patterned paper on the inside and trimmed that to fit as well.

Downloadable Halloween Card Images

3.  To the left is a sheet of images that I used or almost used in the making of the card.  Feel free to download it and use any images you would like.  For the front of the card I chose the Haunted House image.  I cut it out from the sheet, trimmed the outside of the house as well as cut out all of the windows.  I placed the house where i wanted to be on the cover and traced the inside of each window on the cardstock underneath.

After opening up the card flat, I removed the house and used a craft blade to cut out each window from the cardstock.  I glued the house to the front of the card being careful to line up the windows.Then a piece of clear acetate was placed on the inside of the card to back the open windows, giving the appearance of windows. 

4.  On the inside of the card I glued the puzzle.  I cut out the label from the image sheet and attached it to the card using foam squares.  

5.  My favorite part:  The spider web.  I took the web image from sheet and placed it on the top corner of the card (do not glue), trimming off only half.  I put glue stick adhesive on the center of the web and attached black tulle following the web.  I worked my way out lining the circular lines first.

After all of the those were done I glued each web extension rolling the glue stick down the web line, then placing the tulle over the glue.  Rolling the glue stick kept the rest of the tulle from coming off.  I then glued the web to the card.  The last piece of tulle (webbing) was dropped straight down towards the #1 of the puzzle. 

6.  I had some old letter stickers so I used them to spell out Trick or Treat on the front.  I figured the puzzle would be a good “treat” for the receiver.  David really liked the windows and they way they showed a few of the dots through them.

I hope you enjoyed this card and get to give a few of your own. 

Things I might do differently:  I definitely would use a full sheet of acetate to cover the full inside of the card instead of the two smaller pieces I had.  I also might move the puzzle up an inch for a hand written sentiment.  As it is right now there is no room.  An A7 envelope is 5¼ x 7¼ so I could have made the card 5 x 7 giving me more room.

Terri’s Dot Day Mark

My first favorite hobby is pencil puzzles. When I have time and room, jigsaw puzzles. My second favorite hobby is scrapbooking and card making. This is my first, but not last blog making cards using puzzles from the Greatest Dot-to-Dot Newpapers books.

Recycle/Reuse dot-to-dots….

This year I made a “Mark” to celebrate International Dot Day. Of course, we celebrate Dot Day! I decided to use the “Mark” in a greeting card since it came out so good. Here is how I made it:

1st(finding a puzzle) – I went through all of our Puzzle Keys for the Greatest Dot-to-Dot Newspaper Books. These puzzles are 4.5″ x 4.5″ and are perfect for using in greeting cards. Even if you have solved the puzzle you can use it in a greeting card, just erase your pencil lines. What a great way to recycle/reuse. I decided to use a flower puzzle from Newspaper Vol. 3. I wanted to use the Q-Tip techinique to solve the puzzle and this image had enough room between the dots to have the final puzzle still look good.

Puzzle from Newspaper Dot-to-Dot Vol 3

Greatest Newspaper Dot-to-Dot Puzzle solved using ink and Q-tips

2nd(solving the puzzle) – I cut out the page and erased the solved puzzle, keeping track of the numbers in the puzzle where I wanted to change colors. I used Q-tips and 6 ink pads (3 yellows and 3 greens). I dabbed the Q-tip on the ink pad and then made dots in a line on the puzzle, following the numbers in order. I used a light yellow to fill in the flowers. I really like how the Q-tip does not make a perfect dot.

Outside of Dot-to-Dot Greeting Card

3rd(front of the card) – I cut a 10.5″ x 7.25″ piece of card stock. Folded it in half to 5.25″ x 7.25″. I cut a piece of Urban Lily Everyday Lily cardstock to fit the front of the card, trimming around the butterly and bird. I cut the inside of the oval out(unfold the card first) and then lined the back of the oval with clear acetate. I took a gold Hot of the Press dotted Dazzles line and placed it near the bottom to cover up the faded line that was on the cardstock.

The start of the inside of the Greatest Dot-to-Dot Greeting Card

4th(inside of the card) – I cut a 5.25″ x 7.25″ green piece of cardstock and ran it through my Fiskars Fuse with a Swiss Dots Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder, twice.

The finished inside of the Greatest Dot-to-Dot Greeting Card

5th(inside of the card) – I glued the puzzle to a gold piece of Anna Griffin® Metallic cardstock and trimmed it 1/4″ past the puzzle for a border. I used glue dots to attach the puzzle with border to the swiss dots paper. I used two butterflies stamps from the Hot Off The Press Simply Susan Papercrafting Kit. I stamped them in black Versfine on white cardstock, colored them in and cut them out. I lifted them up using foam squares. I cut out a tag using the Hot of the Press design toolkit and stamped a phrase from the Londonberry Park Stamp and Ink Kit.

here is the final

6th(final card) – I took a gold Dazzles butterfly and placed it towards the top of the card. I placed Teal Jewel Dazzles on it to add color. I cut out a tag using the Hot of the Press design toolkit and stamped a phrase from the Hot Off The Press Simply Susan Stamp set in black VersaFine. I then embossed it using black embossing powder. I attached it using foam squares. A few extra Teal Jewel Dazzles and the card was done.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed my first Dot-to-Dot greeting card post.